I am doing something different this year
by sending all a picture of the family. We got together for my
Mother's 90th birthday picture. We were unable to be with them
for a gathering to celebrate.

We have had quite an interesting year.
Julie purchased a double wide mobile home and we helped rehab
it until Mark got to feeling bad. She still has work to do but
taking her time. Cathy & Greg moved in with us for 4 months
til their new home was built. Their house sold when they put
it up for sale and the people had 30 day close and wanted to
move in so we had room. They are now getting settled in their
new home and we just have our two Schnauzers, Winston & Sammy.

Mark was feeling quite bad with his breathing
and chest pain and so decided to get a second opinion. Luckily
he did he had an angiogram done buy a civilian doctor and discovered
he had two blockages so they called in another doctor and he
had angioplasty and 2 stints put In. I just brought him home
yesterday the 6th of Dec. We are hoping that this will be the
fixer upper. We have been sticking close to home because of appointments
but hopefully this coming year will be better health wise.

We wish you all a very Blessed Christmas
and Happy New Year.

Love to all,

Lillan & Mark

Mark Belland, HS Graduation

I am the eldest son of Edward and Cecile
Belland. I was born January 22, 1934 in Thief River Falls, MN
and spent most of my first eighteen years living there.

In December of 1952, I decided to go into
the service and enlisted in the United States Army Paratroopers.
My mother was not happy about my decision because the Korean
Was was still going on. I never did go to Korea but spent most
of my 3 years in the Army stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina,
with the 82nd Airborne. In January of 1965 I was discharged from
the Army and spent some time living in the Los Angeles area with
my brother Gerald. I returned to Thief River Falls for a short
while and decided to go back into the service and I reenlisted
in the Air Force. Three years of Army life had been enough for
me. After a few short months of Specialty Schools I was assigned
to Etain, France. This was in November of 1957 and the Russians
had just launched Sputnik. The area around Etain was mostly Communist
so my stay in France was not too pleasant. Lots of name calling
and "yankee go home", etc. In June of 1958 luck being
on my side, I received orders and was reassigned to Bitburg Air
Force Base, Germany. Things got a lot better and the remainder
of my tour in Europe was very enjoyable. I got to visit a lot
of countries while I was there and even almost got married. But
the love of my life was waiting back in the states and marriage
there never happened.

Mark and Lilliam Belland Wedding, May 12, 1962

In November of 1960 I was assigned to
Travis Air Force Base, California. Shortly after arriving there
I met Lillian Zupich who was also stationed there and who on
May 12, 1962 became my wife, for life. Our marriage has been
fruitful and we have three wonderful daughters.

The eldest being Cathleen Marie, born
July 16, 1963, is single, has her own house and is a Staff Sergeant
in the Air Force working in the Electronics field. She says she
loves what she is doing and it looks like she will make a career
of the Air Force, just like her dad. At present, she has just
over 10 years of active duty.

The second daughter, Dianna Lynn, was
born November 6, 1965 while I was serving a tour of duty in Vietnam.
She was also in the Air Force as a medical technician, but decided
to further her goals after he second enlistment and is presently
working as a nurse in the emergency room for Kaiser Hospital
in Vallejo, California. By the time this is published she will
have gotten married June 24, 1995. Her new last name is Pledger
and her husband's name is Kelly. They are both in love and have
committed to a life time union. Dianna has a daughter, our grand
daughter Maryanna Marie who is the apple of our eye. She will
be six years old September 14 of this year and her new daddy
loves her very much.

Our third and youngest daughter Julie
Ann was born on February 26, 1971. She unfortunately was diagnosed
as having a disease call Lupus and Fibromialga and was discharged
from the Air Force with a disability. She is presently living
on her own in an apartment and seems to be managing quite well.

The Mark Belland family is truly unique,
in that our members of the family have served in the Air Force,
so you might say we are a true Air Force family.

In 1965 I decided to make the Air Force
a career and accepted my orders to Vietnam. This was a very hard
decision because staying in the Air Force meant going off to
war. But, Lillian and I reviewed our alternatives and this to
us seemed to be the best way to go. Everything turned out for
the best and on May 1, 1974 I retired from the Air Force with
20 years and 2 days of active duty. As of now I have been drawing
my retirement pay longer than I actually served in the Armed
Services. "A little of 21 years to date."

While I served in the Air Force I was
a load master. I was in charge of loading passengers and cargo
on the aircraft I was flying on. During my flying career I flew
a little over 8000 hours in a fourteen year period. The types
of aircraft I was a crew member on were 1. C-124 the Globemaster
from 1961 to 1965 at Travis AFB. 2. While in Vietnam with the
Air Commandos, I flew on an old 2 engine aircraft caller a C-123.
These aircraft had the ability to get in and out of small airfields
and were used throughout the Vietnam War. We also used there
aircraft for air drops of both war materials and livestock to
feed isolated Vietnamese hamlets.

Vietnam was a terrible war and I saw a
lot of death and mutilation. I helped carry combat troops into
the was zone and then carry their bodied out a few days later.
When, I got my order to transfer out, in September of 1966 and
was reassigned to Travis Air Force Base and the same squadron
I had left only a year and a half before. I had rented out our
house while I was gone so that turned out good for us, as we
were able to move back into our house upon my return.

Things at Travis had changed, also old
shaky (C-124) was gone and in it's place was a brand new jet
airplane the C-141. I flew as a loadmaster on this aircraft from
November 1966 to March 1971. The C-141 was the backbone of the
airlift during the Vietnam War. Some of the aircraft had over
20,000 hours of flying time on them by the time I retired in
1974. On Christmas Eve of 1968 I helped carry back to the states
the Pueblo Crew that had been in captivity in North Korea for
almost a year. Aircraft kept getting bigger and better in the
Air Force and the C-5A aircraft arrived on the scene the beginning
of 1971.

I flew as a loadmaster of this aircraft
from March of 1971 until I retired on May 1, 1974. At that time
the C-5A was the largest aircraft in the world and was capable
of carrying extremely heavy loads. On one occasion while wee
were in crew rest at Yaakota, Japan we got alerted and told that
we had to carry tanks to Vietnam. Four C-5A's each with 2 M-60
tanks flew to DaNang, Vietnam to assist the Marines who were
about to be over run. Each one of these tanks weighed over 98,000
lbs. At that time this was the heaviest load ever carried by
an aircraft.

Retirement from the Air Force was welcomed
but I still look back on this career with fond memories. After
I retired I purchased a truck and went into my own business.
This didn't work out too well and the pipeline in Alaska had
just gotten started in 1975, so I went up there for a year. I
worked for a large trucking firm and in September of 1976 this
job almost completed, I came back to Vacaville, Ca.

In 1977 I go a job as a trainee Building
Inspector for the City of Vacaville and that started my new career.
Until I retired in June of 1984, I worked as a building inspector
for Vacaville twice, Suisun City, Yolo County and Contra Costa
County. I went to night school at two community colleges for
eight years and received on associates degree and two separate
certificated in the Industrial Arts field. I liked my work and
progressed from a trainee inspector to Senior Building Inspector
for the City of Vacaville.

Since retiring, Lillian and I have made
one big trip in our motor home and plan to enjoy many more. As
depicted in our pictures our first camping tryout was a 1967
pickup with a 8.5 foot cabover camper. We love the outdoors and
all our friends in our camping club and plan to continue RVing
as long as our health will let us. We would like to have more
addresses of friends and relatives so that we may come and visit
you. Remember we have our own home on wheels and no one has to
put us up.

Lillian and I, along with our three children
still live in Vacaville, Ca. If anyone would like to visit us
we would be glad to see you.

I didn't think a time would ever come,
but in January of 1996 I will be eligible for Social Security.